We’ve mentioned the cost of maintaining open space and parking lots, but what is the impact on city revenue when homes are removed from neighborhood streets? The City of Independence has budgeted over $52 million in revenue from property taxes, franchise fees from city-owned utilities, taxes from city-owned utilities, franchise fees & taxes from natural gas services, franchise fees & taxes & 911 fees from phone use, franchise fees & taxes from cable services, cigarette taxes, gasoline taxes, motor vehicle license fees, and general sales tax. This revenue represents an average of $1120 per household (this assumes households are supporting our local businesses). Every household represents a revenue stream. When these households disappear, so does the revenue. For example, if an entire block of say 26 homes disappear, that could represent a $350,000 loss in annual revenue from the city’s budget or the equivalent of the starting base salaries of 9 entry-level police officers. Obviously, poorly maintained and managed houses can put on strain on city resources but so do empty lots. It is important to maintain our housing stock for a sustainable city government and appropriate staffing levels of police and firefighters. It also supports local public schools, libraries, county government, etc. We need to get behind “12 Blocks West” and any other neighborhood revitalization/conservation efforts to maintain clean and safe housing for our citizens. Otherwise, we will have no choice but to put professional hockey players on our streets to maintain law & order.
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